Always a loophole
by Stand with Ward and Queen
Summary: When Oliver visits Laurel's grave after defeating Darhk, it's not Felicity who joins him. Fix it.


**Just an idea for a one shot that popped into my head that wasn't going away. Hope you guys enjoy it. **

Star City Cemetery

Afternoon

Oliver was kneeling in front of Laurel's grave when he heard someone walk up behind him. He assumed it was Felicity, so he didn't react. He just wanted a moment to take it all in, to really mourn his oldest friend. Then, that person spoke.

"Ollie."

Oliver stiffened; sure he was hallucinating as he got to his feet. He slowly turned around and stared. Dinah Laurel Lance stood in front of him, looking as alive as she had been before that final, tragic mission to Iron Heights.

"Laurel," Oliver breathed.

As Laurel took a step forward, Oliver took a step back, whether out of fear or disbelief, he wasn't sure.

"You-you can't be real. You died," Oliver said shakily, convinced he was finally going crazy.

"So did Sara, she's back now," Laurel pointed out as she took a few steps towards Oliver, relieved when he didn't try and move again.

She placed a hand on the side of Oliver's face and the contact seemed to be Oliver's undoing. He took her in his arms, pulling her to him, finally willing to accept that this was real. That she real.

"It's okay, I'm here. I'm really here," Laurel said as he buried his face in her hair.

"How?" Oliver asked his voice gruff with emotion as he pulled back. "How is this possible?"

"Sara," Laurel said simply.

Starling General Hospital

The night Laurel died

Making sure no one else was in the room; Sara Lance walked into the morgue and located the drawer she was looking for. She walked over and pulled it open, her heart jumping into her throat as she saw her sister's corpse, her lifeless eyes staring up at her without seeing.

The Waveridder

"Sara-" Rip started as he saw Laurel's body in the med bay.

"Don't even start Rip, we spent five months trying to save your family! You manipulated us, lied to us, nearly sacrificed us for your own self-interest! You owe me at least this!" Sara snarled as she stalked over to him and, before Rip could say anything, she had a knife at his throat. "Get out of my way or I'll slit your throat Rip. Do not test me."

Rip saw the wild, almost feral look in her eyes and knew Sara had every intention of following through on her promise. So he did nothing as Sara turned her head back towards the med bay.

"Do it Gideon," Sara ordered.

"Captain Hunter?" Gideon asked as Sara looked back at Rip, silently daring him to try and stop her.

"Do as she says," Rip said reluctantly, knowing it was out of his hands now.

Laurel's body was suddenly covered in light as Gideon started the process of reviving Laurel. Sara lowered the knife, to Rip's relief, and pocketed it as she walked back into the med bay. For several moments, Laurel's body was covered in the light before it faded. For a moment, nothing happened and Sara feared it hadn't worked. Then, Laurel's eyes snapped open as she let out a loud gasp for breath.

"Sara? What?" Laurel said, disoriented.

Sara grabbed Laurel, hugging her tightly as she sobbed into her sister's shoulder. Although confused and disoriented, Laurel returned the hug, stroking her sister's back as she tried to figure out what was going on.

Star City Cemetery

Now

"She switched by body out with a duplicate while she brought me to the Waveridder, brought me back. Then she and The Legends dropped me off here," Laurel told Oliver, who was having trouble comprehending what he was hearing.

"I thought I'd lost you," Oliver said brokenly as he put his hands on either side of her face.

"It's okay Oliver," Laurel said gently as she put her hand on his chest, to reassure him she was there. "I'm back and I'm not going anywhere."

**No, I have not changed my mind about never writing Lauliver again due to the Laurel fanatics. But, with that said, I still think killing off Laurel was one of the stupidest things the Arrowverse has ever done.**

**There are multiple ways for Laurel to be brought back without screwing up the timeline, the most obvious being what I did here. And the fact Sara has barely tried to bring Laurel back before giving up is just further character assassination. Sara from arrow would have done anything to bring Laurel back, but this is not Sara from Arrow. This Sara's selfish clone, Sasha, who only cares about screwing her clone girlfriend and having fun with The Legends. **


End file.
